Dangerous Beginnings
by Acerbus Animus
Summary: No one wants to believe that horrible things happen in the world caused by people so twisted and corrupted that they could make even Mendele cringe. Imagine finding out that those events are caused from a little too close to home now sympathize the Eppes'


**Disclaimer:** I don't own _Numb3rs_ and I do warn whoever is here reading this that it is pretty graphic, because I tend to get that way after a while of watching my TiVo for too long. I love that thing!

It was cold. There was some sort of annoying pounding above. That wasn't unusual thought. There was some kind of activity going on over her head. It made the belief that her prison was under a house of some sort. However, the actual _owner_ didn't know about her.

The other body in the corner had begun to decay. It didn't smell any worse than before; it just added the scent of death to the excrement.

She'd never wanted to come here. It was so foreign to her. She didn't even know where she was or how long she'd been there. All she knew was that she had to attack other women with black hair. Her own ebony locks, long torn out, had grown back in short, thick strands. She wasn't even sure it covered her whole head. Even if it did, it wasn't black anymore. It was red. She remembered when it was dyed.

It had burned the scalp so bad she'd screamed for hours. Or she _would_ have, if she hadn't been knocked out.

The very thought of a woman with black hair made her want to attack something. Anything. Anything that moved. Nothing ever moved in the dark hole she was in. Now that the other girl was dead, nothing breathed either.

It was only a matter of time, though. The Couple would be back as soon as three thousand breaths passed after the ground rumbled and silence ensued. She'd had plenty of time to notice how routine everything was. It never failed. She _wanted_ it to fail. She begged with every single fibre of her being that they would fail. Then she could die and it would all be over. Never again would she have to inhale the sent of her own bodily wastes.

She couldn't tell if she was standing or not anymore. She was so weak it all felt the same. No matter what, she felt like the entire world was spinning around her. That's why she'd pressed herself into the corner as far from the body as possible. It had taken her what felt like hours to drag the corpse over to the side they'd relieved themselves on. While over there, she'd thrown up foul-smelling bile all over. It made her fear the anger of the girl's ghost.

Sañya just hadn't woken up. Usually they cuddled up together to sleep, but that day she hadn't. Sañya had been stiff and cold. When she tried to pull away, one of Sañya's fingers ha dsnapped in half, but not off. Ruma hadn't known what to do. It had frightened her that she would have screamed if her vocal chords still worked.

Tears filled her eyes as she tried to remember life before the dark. Before she was submerged into a world that was always cold and always black. She wanted to be free, but was afraid of what they might do to her.

What she could do to the world. To those with black hair.

She could already tell that she was a monster. She could feel the blood still on her hands. They fought her like a gladiator. It was almost like she was just a pet; Sañya killed girls with brown hair. They murdered for money.

All she could remember was the life leaking out of their eyes like water into the rivers. She would never get to go home, now. The people would see a murderer, not a girl too afraid of herself to move.

They wouldn't see her as a victim. They might even think it was _her_ who killed Sañya. She had no idea.

All she knew was the life back home. The life she'd had growing up on her parents' horse farm. The main breed was the purebred Arab, but there were several Caspians along with the few draft horses on the land as well. She could remember a team of beautiful mares pulling her threw the snow on the sleigh. How she missed the simple life. What had gone wrong? What were her parents doing right now? Did they even miss her?

Her neck was tired of holding up her head, so she let it lean to the side and rest against the dirty concrete wall. That was one thing to be thankful for. The entire hole was covered in concrete instead of dirt.

Sleep wasn't terribly hard to reach. In fact, she spent most of her time asleep. Why not? Either way all she'd see was black. At least being asleep allowed for her to dream of freedom and things to unrealistic for her to believe in.

This time was different. When she closed her eyes, the faces of the family she left behind haunted her. She especially missed her parents and older brother. They'd always made her feel so safe. If they could see her now…

She physically pulled her wasted limbs up to her chest and curled up in a pathetic excuse for a ball. With a heavy sigh, she forcefully removed all thoughts from her mind.

That done, Ruma fell into a fitful sleep.


End file.
